‘Dawn’ rises for two young musicians

By Ashley Archibald

 

SANTA MONICA, CA — Those who filled the seats of the Broad Stage last week at the National Children’s Choir performance of “Journey of Song” expected to watch youth sing.

They anticipated the cherubic voices of the performers in their early teens with some experience with the ensemble, and the nervous fidgeting of youngsters whose discipline had run its course by intermission like the stamina of a first-time participant in an Ironman competition.

Their eyes scanned over the program, noting the bookend dates guarded with parentheses that gave temporal reference to the composer responsible for each work piped out in piercing sopranos.

But they missed one. It read (1998 — ).